


Hit the dirt

by halfeatenmoon



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Disaster Lesbians, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:48:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21612526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/pseuds/halfeatenmoon
Summary: As Rey landed hard on her shoulder and hip, gravel digging into her even through her leathers, she thought,This is the last time I take Finn's dating advice.
Relationships: Rey/Rose Tico
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2019





	Hit the dirt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darktensh17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darktensh17/gifts).



As Rey landed hard on her shoulder and hip, gravel digging into her even through her leathers, she thought, _This is the last time I take Finn's dating advice._

It wasn't even the first time she'd had _that_ thought. Ever since Finn had started seeing his boyfriend, he'd wanted to get Rey a date, too, because "I didn't know I could be this happy" and "Everyone should get to be as happy as this" and "Especially you, Rey, you're the best." Rey could probably have fobbed him off indefinitely, except she couldn't help complaining about how hard it was meeting other gay girls, and they'd get stuck in the same conversation again.

"Maybe you're looking in the wrong places," Finn would say, earnestly. "You never know where you're going to meet the love of your life."

Then Rey would say "We aren't all going to fall in love by jumping in to help a stranger in a fistfight."

"You need to get out there."

"I _have_ been getting out there! Everyone either acts like an alien or thinks I act like an alien or both."

"So they're the wrong people for you. You need to try somewhere new."

This was how Rey swore off letting Finn help the first time, when he set her up with his old boss. Paintball had seemed like a fun, playful way to get to know someone, and something that would work well since they both knew how to shoot. Instead, the moment Rey landed the first shot on Phasma, things turned very competitive. And underhanded. They walked away spitting vindictive insults at each other after getting banned from the paintball course for "excessively violent conduct".

Still, entering the motorcross race hadn't seemed like the worst idea at the time. Finn pointed out that maybe she'd be better at meeting girls while she was doing something she was good at (dirt biking) rather than things she hated (going to bars, making small talk). She could show off her skills, have fun, and would actually have something in common with anyone she met there, unlike the time she went to speed dating and nobody talked about anything she understood. It seemed like she'd finally found a better dating plan than going to the one gay bar in town every week and looking for someone she hadn't had an awkward conversation with yet.

As it turned out, though, the motorcross race was not that fun. For one thing, it felt hard to show off when she was wrapped up in a leather jacket and a helmet that covered her face completely. The other racers were mostly men, and the kind of men who were weird and gross about a woman racing against them. The other two women competing were the kind of classically hot women that the men wanted to either impress or have step on them - and they still looked hot when they took their helmets off, unlike Rey, whose hair was squashed into bizarre formations and whose face was caked in dirt and sweat. And the couple of women she'd tried talking to in the crowd were nice, and really were interested in talking about her bike, but were also clearly more interested in sleeping with one of the arrogant male bikers mouthing off about beating her.

And it still could have been a fun race, even if it was no use for meeting people, except that one of the men had been a dick and cut her off in front of a jump in a way that was almost-but-not-quite illegal. So what should have been an easy, early jump in the course had put her completely off balance, bouncing off the side of the mound, until she came off her bike and crashed hard into the dirt. As she stared up at the sky above her, hearing the sounds of other bikes roaring past and utterly murdering her chances of getting back in the running to win, her first thought was not to take Finn's dating advice again. Her second was to hope her bike was okay. Her third was _At least none of the cute girls I'm supposedly impressing were here to see that._

Which was exactly when a cute face framed by beautiful dark hair appeared above her and asked. "Hello! Can you hear me?"

Rey closed her eyes with a groan. Of course.

Then she opened them again as the woman raised her voice. "It's okay, I'm here on first aid duty. Don't move. Where are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt," Rey said, indignantly.

"Are you sure nothing hurts? It's just the noise you made. I'm fine, really."

She moved to get up, but the other woman held her shoulder and kept her down.

"What are you doing?" Rey snapped.  
"I'm sorry, but since you had a fall that big, I can't let you up until I check for concussion. Can you take your helmet off?"

It's not like this could get worse, Rey thought. She wiggled her helmet off and sighed as she lay her head back, her squashed and frazzled hair getting thoroughly mingled with the dirt.

The other woman's eyes widened a little as she saw Rey's face.

"Do I look that bad?"  
"What? I mean, no. I wasn't staring." She was flushing a little now. "Um, here, can you focus on my finger, please?"

"Okay, sure. My name's Rey, by the way."

"I know. I mean, uh, I'm Rose."

"Nice to meet you, I guess," Rey said, dutifully following Rose's finger with her eyes. "Do you learn the names of everyone who competes just in case you have to give them concussion checks?"

"Yes. Well, no, we get all the names and photos just in case. I don't memorise them all."

Rey felt her eyebrows creeping up her face. "Just me?"

"I was excited that you were racing, that's all," Rose said, looking even more embarrassed. "I mean, there aren't a lot of women who race, you know, and you looked cool."

"Yeah, real cool wiping out this early in the race."

"Everyone wipes out sometimes. You can enter again." She cleared her throat. "You're all clear. You can get up if you like."

Rose offered her a hand up, and Rey found herself wishing she wasn't wearing gloves so she could feel Rose's hand skin to skin. She was _so bad at this_.

"I guess. Sucks that you were looking forward to seeing me race and I totally failed, though."

"Are you kidding? I got to talk to you!" Rose beamed. "That's like, half the reason I volunteer for first aid. Well, a third of it. I'd rather be fixing bikes, but the mechanic crews are full of dudes and they're just..."

"The worst, I know." Rey rolled her eyes. "The other racers, too."

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"I guess I'd better go see if my bike still works," Rey said, at last.

"Yeah, and I should go see if anyone else needs bandages. Or concussion screens."

"Okay. Uh, good luck then. Thanks for picking me up off the dirt I guess."

"Yeah, good luck with your bike."

As she walked away, Rey couldn't decide what to berate herself about first: crashing out, a cute girl seeing her crash, being completely awkward at talking to Rose _even though she liked dirt bikes_ , and walking away without even asking for her number.

Then she realised she could fix the last one. Sure, it could be embarrassing, but at least nobody else saw, and if she humiliated herself then she could easily avoid Rose for the rest of time if she just never entered a motorcross race again.

She turned around to see that Rose had stopped talking too, and looked like she was going to be sick. She blurted out "Can I help you fix your bike?" at the same time as Rey said "Do you want to go out after this?"

They stared at each other.

"Did you just say..."

"You want to fix my _bike_?"

"With you," Rose added, quickly. Then, "That's what you meant by going out, right?"

"I meant going out with _me_ , yeah. It doesn't have to be with my bike though."

"Oh, cool." Rose was blushing again. "Then yes! Yes, that sounds good. Let's go out."

"But if you like we can have a look at my bike before. Or after. I guess we could ride to the bar on it together if we can get it running after this."

"Wow," Rose said, breathlessly.

"I mean. It's not going to be comfortable."

"You mean on a date, right? This is a date? Because if you're offering to take me out on your bike and it's not a date..."

"Uh. Yeah. That's what I meant."

"Cool," Rose said, looking at Rey with awe. Tentatively, she stepped forwards and took Rey's hand.

"Maybe I should find somewhere to shower first, though. My hands are filthy."

"So are mine," Rose said, grinning. "Who cares? Let's go out and have a really filthy date."

Then she realised what she'd just said and turned bright red.

"Uh, okay. Sounds good," Rey said, quickly. "I'll meet you at the repair shop in, what, half an hour?"

"Yep, I'll be there."

And before either of them could get too embarrassed to follow it through, Rey leaned forward and kissed her quickly, dirt and all. As she turned around to pick up her bike, she had to admit that as embarrassing as this whole day had been, Finn might have been right about this one.


End file.
